Whether the exceptional historic shop at 68 Avenue des Champs Elysees in Paris or the one in the Court of Scents in Versailles, Guerlain designs and develops its venues into “singular spaces” of refinement and excellence.

Interior design, design and artworks express its values, its cultural heritage and a bespoke approach to retail that suits the space. What the prestigious brand calls its “boutique spirit.” Combining a historic heritage full of style, symbols, objects, polished products and personalized offers with the specific identity of a space and its environment, come discover the secrets of the Guerlain Champs Elysees and Versailles shops through an interview with Patricia Grosdemange, LVMH’s Artistic Director of Architecture and Design.

Fascinated early on by painting and sculpting, her passion for design was an obsession that led her, starting in childhood, to the workshops of the School of Fine Arts, which she eventually attended, and from which she would graduate as valedictorian with congratulations from the jury.
Then going on to work with Didier Gomez for 5 years, she discovered the world of luxury brands: Yves Saint Laurent, Mauboussin, the office of Pierre Bergé at the Opera Bastille, private mansions, restaurants, etc…. She would never leave the world of luxury, so enthralled was she with its high standards.

Historically, Patricia Grosdemange surrounded herself with art craftspeople, artists and antiques dealers. Luxury without craft is nothing. She felt great respect for the trades.
This meeting of shared talents and passions brought beauty to peaks of excellence and emotion.

Passionate about the world of brands, their possibilities for expression, and retail spaces, she joined the L’Oréal Luxury Division and worked on concepts there for many brands: Helena Rubinstein, Lancome, Armani, etc. Her adventure in retail marketing led her to Tokyo for 18 months to build the image of the brand Shu Uemura and its merchandising team.

A cultural experience which would lastingly mark her. The art of Japanese composition rounded out her design world: perfection at all levels and lightness and balance in appearance.

In late 2004, Patricia Grosdemange joined Guerlain. First to develop a luxurious and unique retail identity, notably by creating shops around the world, including shops in Versailles and on the Champs Elysées that embody the expression of its know-how and the French artisanal tradition. Like a bridge between the past and the future, the shop is also the meeting place for the best craftspeople and artists to reveal the brand’s history.

In 2011, the Guerlain tradition that can bind very strongly with consistent content to the container, it takes the architecture art direction and design: the design of the bottles and packaging all tell a beautiful story with the same point of sale.

Major, coherent work was launched by the creation of new Guerlain packaging, as well as the amethyst and peony brand color and corporate packaging. Also the creation of its brand codes: its garland pattern; updates to its three emblematic depictions: the star, the bee and the double G. All part of the durability, modernization and uniqueness of the Guerlain style.

Since 2014, Patricia Grosdemange has brought her expertise in creating retail concepts and worlds to the LVMH brands, including for the new brand Cha Ling, the updating of the Guerlain brand and other brands whose developments are still confidential.

The style is of its time, modern. It is always directed by a taste for balance, shapes, materials and combinations that arouse emotions. The excellence of execution and the sense of beautiful detail combines to spread an atmosphere in keeping with the brand.
Each shop is an “experiential” journey that leaves no one indifferent, a journey to the heart of the brand, that stirs the emotions and senses.“An essential design that defies time and carries meaning in its smallest details, as well as a poetic, artistic, cultivated design, full of emotions and messages.”
These things are now at the core of her work, with the three components that structure it: Materials, Art and Art Craftsmanship.